Honor's new foldable phone is bigger and more powerful than the Galaxy Z Fold 3

Honor Magic V
(Image credit: Honor)

The last few months have brought a number of debut foldable phones, and now Honor is the latest company to join the fun, with a new device that beats the Galaxy Z Fold 3 in terms of specs.

This new phone, launched at an event in China, is the Honor Magic V - that V isn't a Roman numeral, as it refers to the fact the device folds in a V shape. Right now, we don't know if it'll be launching worldwide, but Honor has a history of unveiling devices in its home country that don't get global releases.

However, the existence of a blog post on Honor's global website about the phone suggests it could eventually be available elsewhere eventually.

The launch of this phone isn't exactly a surprise, as Honor has been teasing the new folding phone for a while now, but its impressively top-end specs could make it the new foldable to beat.

If it releases globally, we'll make sure to test out the Honor Magic V so you can know how it stacks up against the other foldables on the market. For now, though, you'll have to make do with a run-through of the specs.

Honor Magic V specs

The Honor Magic V has a 7.9-inch main screen with a 2272 x 1984 resolution and 90Hz refresh rate, and a 6.45-inch secondary display with a 2560 x 1080 resolution and 120Hz refresh - both are OLED.

The battery is 4,750mAh and it charges at 66W. So it's fast to power up, but looking at the specs we're not sure the device will last a whole day of use without being charged.

There are four cameras: a 42MP selfie snapper in the secondary display, and on the back, there's a 50MP main, 50MP ultra-wide, and 50MP 'Spectrum Enhanced Camera,' which is presumably the same as we've seen on the Huawei P50 Pocket foldable. That camera apparently captures more color and detail than the human eye.

Honor used to be owned by Huawei, and while the two companies are no longer officially affiliated in any way, we've seen them release phones with shared features recently.

Another Honor Magic V spec that beats Samsung's foldable is the chipset, as the Honor phone uses the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 that wasn't around when the Z Fold 3 launched. That's a super-powerful mobile chip that should make gaming and other intensive processes a breeze.

This isn't a cheap phone, though. Its China starting price converts to $1,570, £1,160 or AU$2,190, and phones generally cost less in China than they do elsewhere. If the phone does release elsewhere, expect a price that's even higher.

Tom Bedford
Contributor

Tom Bedford joined TechRadar in early 2019 as a staff writer, and left the team as deputy phones editor in late 2022 to work for entertainment site (and TR sister-site) What To Watch. He continues to contribute on a freelance basis for several sections including phones, audio and fitness.

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